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Was the debate between Harris and Trump really fair?

Republicans have launched criticism regarding the ABC News Presidential Debate held on September 10, 2024 evening in Philadephia, PA. Anyone watching or listening to the debate would notice that the ABC News ran a skewed debate skipping fact-checking for VP Kamala Harris’s flawed assertations. Other observations which AGN noticed is how the moderators allowed the VP to actively court the audience and press. She did this by repeatedly staring at Trump while shaking her head, openly televising her mocking facial expressions, and grimaces. Meanwhile it seemed that the ABC News moderators, David Muir and Linsay Davis, repeatedly cut Trump off without thanking him, saying “We have a lot of issues to get to.”

No wonder the former President commented at one point about the denigrating attitude of the Democrats possibly a factor in the assassination attempt in July 2024.

It should be noted that the reason why President Trump was looking down at the podium while listening to Harris was because he was actively listening to spot false allegations, lies, and deflection attempts. He had not received any questions beforehand. Whereas it would seem that VP Harris had a lot of energy to expend in her role to cast down Trump. It would likely require knowing the questions and responses in advance. Only in such a scenario could Harris afford syncing such nonverbal cues to prompt the attempted psyche-out.

In fact in Forensics, the study of debate, “working the audience and press” against the opponent is generally considered unprofessional or against the rules. The debate is supposed to be conducted and judged based on elocutionary skill and presentation of facts, backed by evidence. Third-party directed facial/body expression used to manipulate the audience are childish tactics resorted to by those who seek to win based on personal appeal. VP Harris’s shake of the head, quizzical glances, eye-rolling, and nose-tilt indicate that Ms. Harris received coaching or studied the mannerisms of former President Obama.

ABC News even manipulated the poses of the candidates; most of the time the camera capture was of the two candidates from the neck upwards; in the video, VP Kamala Harris’s head is on level with, or higher than former President Donald J. Trump’s; there is also a zoom used to deceptively make it appear that Kamala Harris’s head is longer than Trump’s; the background behind her is also sharper, and so the effect is that it seems to dramatically heighten her normally more diminutive stature.

The American Forensics Association (AFA) discourages manipulative behaviors used in debate:

“All tournaments should operate in an environment free of any behavior (whether verbal or nonverbal) which results in the harassment of any participant (whether student, coach, or judge)…”

“The AFA acknowledges the district and national tournaments sponsored by the association are designed to promote responsible and effective discourse. The AFA recognizes that behaviors which belittle, degrade, demean, or otherwise dehumanize others are not in the best interest of the activities sponsored by the AFA.”

“All participants in the AFA sponsored event shall recognize the rights of others and communicate with respect for opponents, colleagues, critics, tournament hosts and audience members. Behaviors by any tournament participants occurring at an AFA sponsored event that violate the community standard of a healthy educational environment shall be deemed ‘unprofessional conduct.’ Unprofessional conduct is subject to sanction(s) by the AFA.”

The repeated interruptions of Trump by ABC News’ David Muir and Linsay Davis, along with several repartees between Mr. Muir and Mr. Trump definitely make ABC News appear biased, particularly as after VP Harris’s response the moderators more often thanked her, which they rarely did with the former President. All of this may even add up to reversalism, where the 3-on-1 debaters maximized the win-lose motto from the Democratic Convention “When we fight, we win!” to make it appear as if Trump were the embodiment of loss, the past, the “old white man”, the methods of the past, negativity, rancor, pessimism, downward economy, authoritarianism, and so much more.

As in past administrations, all Harris has to do, which pundits have pointed she has done so many times, in speeches to various audiences, is point up with her right index finger to the sky and claim that she represents “joy, hope, change, and the future of America.” In each of her speeches, this index finger gesture is accompanied by a specific left hand gesture with the index finger crossing over her chest, then diving down, while she transmits to her audience subliminal programming, variations of “what has gone before, what is the past, what has been left behind.” How many people have been exposed to her rudimentary yet subtle psychological brain-washing techniques?

This is perhaps why former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy offered his analysis, and so did J. D. Vance, and Republican Senator Tom Cotton (Ark.) Their consensus immediately following the debate was that ABC refused to adequately fact-check Harris even though time and again she deftly used her position to contrast her brand as a woman-leader image versus the abusive-old-man image that the nation would endure under another presidential administration of Donald Trump.

Here are Vivek Ramaswamy‘s “Vivek Reacts to Trump-Harris Debate & What’s Going on in this Election” deconstructive debate notes, which AGN followed up on to verify what took place and provide additional commentary.

First, the overt siding of ABC News in terms of how the debates were arranged and the context of negotiated conditions during the debates first in June, then in September. Note that it was already extraordinary that this year, the debates were not directly conducted by the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD). According to Wikipedia (“Commission on Presidential Debates”): “In May 2024, the Biden and Trump campaigns struck a deal to circumvent the CPD and participate in two debates (on CNN on June 27 and ABC on September 10), breaking a longstanding tradition of debates organized under the auspices of the CPD, throwing the future of the CPD into doubt.”

Indeed it is worrisome that if VPs can forcibly ascend to national party presidential nominee, how will this transform the election process in the United States as a democratic republic, and how will this transform future presidential races?

Second, ABC obviously allowed VP Harris to game the stage. They did this by refusing to do any fact checks in her many false attacks on Donald J. Trump. Harris used tactics that have become normalized in mass-media: tell the public a decorative lie, but allow this to be presented with such art and embellishment, that even when it is exposed, the public retains only the memes. Hollywood script writers do this in their TV mysteries, where incredible amounts of violence take place, but the capture of the criminal takes 10 minutes.

Third, Harris perpetuated DJT misinformation that had been disproven by the establishment media, just because it served to augment her image as a maternal, caring, feminist whose policies have generally been left of center but were often influenced by the pressures for political gain. So she falsely accused former President Trump of promising that he will enact a federal ban on abortion when he takes office. She accused Trump of wanting to implement the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, a conservative think-tank’s policy and play book, once he takes office. She (the person who represents “joy and positivism”) launched several hurtful attacks in attempts to malign Donald J. Trump’s character. For example, she sarcastically stated,

“Well I think this is so rich coming from someone who has been prosecuted for national security crimes, economic crimes, election interference, has been found liable for sexual assault. And his next big court appearance is in November at his own criminal sentencing….What is important is that we move forward; we turn the page on this same old tired rhetoric, and address the needs of the American people, address what we need to do about the housing shortage, which I have a plan to address, bringing down the price of groceries…” — Vice-President to Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, ABC News Presidential Debate, September 10, 2024 (34min)

Fortunately, President Trump has had a lot of experience thinking on his feet, for decades as a businessman, in Hollywood, and also in the courts. He countered her lies and false accusations each time, and reminded the public that the nation is at-risk from inviting so many migrants in, from neglect of our infrastructure, and from launching new wars overseas (the new war in Ukraine, per the Russians, actually began with the US State Department backed regime change operation in 2014). Trump emphasized that if this is the way forward which President Biden’s VP, Kamala Harris enabled, particularly as the failed Border Czar, then the nation does not have that much to look forward to under her hoped-for presidency.

Trump asserted that he was satisfied with the decision on abortions being given to the States to decide. He said he absolutely backed U.S. veterans. Why else did he recently attend the memorial service for the fallen heroes in the withdrawal from Afghanistan, while Biden refused to attend? Again, it was the media that painted this as Trump merely using this for a publicity stunt, when Trump explained that it was those soldiers’ families who were proud of having the former President pose for photos with them.

Trump also explained that the number of cases which plaintiffs have filed against him had done so with the encouragement, explicitly or implicitly, of democratic operatives. This is illegal weaponization of government against political candidates. (Indeed, all one has to do is look at the persecution of Imran Khan, who has been in and out of jail for the past five years, even though he was legally voted in as Prime Minister for Pakistan.) As for Harris’s assertation that “Trump sides with dictators, with strong-men, like Putin and Kim Jong-Un“; Trump explained that in the cause of negotiating in good faith, it was often necessary to meet with national leaders and initiate conversation. He pointed out the failure of the Biden administration (with Harris having served as emissary to Ukraine) to negotiate any kind of peace settlement with Russia.

As to Harris’s point that the United States stands on the side of democracy; anyone paying attention to the atrocities and government (or lack thereof) in Ukraine understands that it is not really a working democracy so much as an autocracy. The President Zelensky has jailed and killed numerous journalists, captured and forced many young men to serve in the front lines, has a very corrupt and ill-functioning army, and routinely breaks the rules set forth by NATO regarding not launching drones and military strikes into Russian territory. Zelensky continues to intensify the flames of war, driving ever deeper into Russia, which has caused the Russians to prepare for nuclear war; and so likewise has Israel’s President Netanyahu. These are men who do not honor nor recognize the sanctity of human life.

So while VP Kamala Harris smiles, squints with stink-eye, shakes her head, and stares with quizzical mockery at the former President, and while ABC News repeatedly interrupted Trump’s speech, and while the establishment media is fixated on “cats and dogs in Springfield, Ohio”; and while the Harris campaign continues to beg from penniless citizens through Act Blue, which has been exposed (by O’Keefe Media Group) as a corrupt money-laundering scam; the wars overseas continue and are indeed accelerating. Putin “backs Harris,” because Russia and China are now so comfortable with BRICS that they can really do without the existence of the U.S. as a financial bulwark, even if everyone realizes that Trump promises to end the war in Ukraine.

ABC News doesn’t like to hear about President Trump’s plans and it will use any card it has in its deck to wield against him. Trump closed with his argument on the way forward for America being the necessity to end the tens of millions of illegal migrants (up to thirty million) that have entered the country since Biden took office. Logically, ending war, erecting tariffs, and stopping crime, and illegal immigration, as well as encouraging energy development will at least rejuvenate the American economy:

“You know what, that doesn’t matter because we have to solve the problem that we have right now; that’s old news [January 6th question posed by ABC’s David Muir]. And the problem that we have right now is we have a nation in decline, and they have put it into decline. We have a nation that is dying, David.” —-former President Trump, GOP 2024 nominee, ABC News Presidential Debate, September 10, 2024 (52min)

In the end, Kamala Harris’s plan for rejuvenating the economy, with ideas borrowed from Trump such as on not taxing tips, or even yesterday for erecting new tariffs against China to prevent the flood of new electric vehicles being shipped from Mexico, indicates that at least the Democratic Party is paying attention. After the publicity Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s “Recovering America” documentary movie received, there are new ads being posted in the DC Metro region on drug-rehabilitation and quitting smoking. Vivek Ramaswamy’s new anti-human trafficking movie, “City of Dreams,” also is spurring the Democrats to clean up their act, at least up till the election, in terms of adequate policing against crime, and moving homeless people around. People are being led down the prim-rose path of “joy, inclusion, hope, and change” when in fact, the biggest hope ought to come from full-scale investigation into foreign wars fueled by corruption.

Last but not least are the continued attacks on Trump by Democrats that he represents “America’s racist past.” Here, although Trump did assert that in fact, Harris had to dredge up a case from 40-50 years ago when Trump lived in New York City, the best evidence that former President Donald J. Trump has a record of reassurances for the black community and that he promises to address their needs comes from both the Black Conservative Federation, and BlackAmericans.DonaldJTrump.com.

Black Conservatives value individual freedom for all citizens, free and fair enterprise, limited government control, and traditional American values. They understand that the family is the fundamental building block of civil society, and supporting the traditional family matters. They are more likely to attend church and believe in Christianity because these institutions help “protect, preserve, and improve all things that are good in society.” Black Conservatives are also concerned with diminishing opportunities for working-class black families due to illegal migration, shut-down businesses, and roboticized factories.

President Trump has plans to support not only for Black-Americans, but also Latino-Americans, as they also have a page, Latinos.DonaldJTrump.com. Latino-Americans tend to value work, educational opportunities, family, community culture, and achieving the American dream. Build Back Better did not envisage nearly enough change that the Latinos might hope for were America seriously committed to rebuilding its transportation infrastructure, building high-speed rail, and ensuring that everyone is safely and economically housed.

In fact, there needs to be better protections for all workers so that should a barge crash into a bridge that collapses; or a train become derailed as in East Palestine, OH; or whistleblowers report on failures of airline manufacturer to adhere to strict design and construction procedures, those workers will not lose their livelihoods or lives or health.

However, Asian-Americans do not yet have a page on the Donald J. Trump website, maybe because Trump is worried about the Federal Elections Commission collecting data and concocting new allegations about receiving foreign donations. The activity of Asians for Donald Trump appears to be limited, however, recently DevDiscourse.com published an article, “Indian Americans Key to US 2024 Election: AsiansMAGA Backs Trump.”

The contention from AsiansMAGA is that just because VP Kamala Harris has mixed Indian heritage doesn’t mean all Asian-Americans must identify with her. According to Holly Ham, co-founder of AsiansMAGA, “Indian Americans are looking at values and actions, not just heritage.” The AsiansMAGA national alliance “aims to mobilize Asian-American conservatives and moderates, including Chinese, Indian, Korean, Vietnamese, and Filipino communities, to support Trump in the 2024 election.” As a group, AAPI tend to be high-achievers and practice conservative family values, including monogamous relationships, morality, meritocracy, and support peace-building efforts and cooperation.

Image from DonaldJTrump.com